If you have worked with a recruiter, you probably "met" them for the first time when they called you to share a new opportunity with you "at a major northeast pharmaceutical company." If you were looking for a new job at the time, and you fit the company's profile, the recruiter facilitated your interview and relocation. If you did not fit the profile, you were asked to provide names of colleagues who might be interested in the new position. Along the way, you probably wondered:
This paper will discuss the answers to these questions and, in addition, cover what companies expect from the search agencies they use. This material is presented in order to provide the background necessary for you to make efficient use of the resources available from Molecular Solutions.
The short answer to the first question is that search firms are paid by the company to locate candidates with specific job skills for their client's openings. If they are working on a Retained Search, the pharmaceutical or biotechnology company has an exclusive agreement with the agency to locate candidates for an appropriate fee structure. When an organization uses Contingency Search firms, they pay a fee based only on hiring an employee. Since there is no money paid on a contingency search until the employee arrives for work, there are frequently numerous recruiting firms involved in this type of search; which is why you may hear about the same position from more than one recruiter. The last type of agency that you might encounter is the Contract Search firm. In this scenario, the search firm allocates a block of time to the client on a weekly basis at a fixed fee and spends that time contacting potential candidates.
Headhunters use a variety of approaches to locate individuals. The first and foremost method used is to find someone within an organization who may or may not have the appropriate skills and use this initial contact to network to others both within the company, and the scientific community. Since this approach is generally a numbers game, the recruiter is forced to make a large number of calls to locate candidates for a position. The first individual's name is usually found by:
In contrast to novice headhunters, established recruiters have used networking to accumulate a large database of individuals over the years and use this as a source of prospective candidates.
At Molecular Solutions, we use a somewhat different approach to locating prospective candidates. Since he is an active research scientist in the field, Allen Richon reads the papers published by computational scientists from academia and industry. He also keeps track of the abstracts presented at conferences and society meetings in order to keep up-to-date on the latest research. The result is a database of people and their research skills that permits Molecular Solutions to quickly match position descriptions and skills. When you hear from us regarding an opportunity, we know that you have the background to match the position as described by the hiring company. One thing to note is that although each company begins its search with a specific job description, frequently the requirements for the position change as the search progresses. For that reason, a candidate who appears appropriate for an opening early in the search is sometimes removed from the list for consideration by the company, due to changes in the position profile.
At this point, it is time to bring in the company's perspective and the steps they take to locate new employees. The pharmaceutical industry has a fairly uniform approach to advertising positions and processing the responses that result. The process starts when the hiring supervisor defines the requirements for the position and sends these to the Human Resources (HR) group. HR will assign a position code and work-up the employment ad so that it includes a description of the company, the position, and other standard contact information. It is important to keep in mind that companies place employment ads to accomplish several goals in addition to locating candidates. First, the ad serves as marketing for the company; it shows the community that the company is dynamic and growing. Second, an open ad assists the company in complying with EEOC guidelines. However, an ad has a limited amount of space so it frequently does not fully describe the position. Molecular Solutions works closely with its clients to make sure that we can communicate the requirements that are not in the ad as well as the culture of the organization. This ensures that prospective candidates are fully informed of the scope of the opportunity.
Once the ad has run, the HR group will collect resumes submitted in response, log them into their personnel system, and forward them to the hiring supervisor for review. The supervisor will examine the resumes and select the candidates who appear to offer the best fit for the opening. Since the average response within the industry is 200 to 500 resumes for each opening, most companies respond only to candidates of interest. With this in mind, it is important to remember that your resume generally will be examined by two sets of reviewers: 1) people with little formal training in computational chemistry and 2) by colleagues who, in addition to reviewing hundreds of resumes, are tasked with their "more-than-full-time" job. You will need to make sure that your skills and qualifications are communicated effectively in order to pass this first hurdle. This is where Molecular Solutions can make a difference. We work with candidates to make sure that strengths are highlighted and that accomplishments relevant to the position are identified.
While the above sounds straight forward, there is a frequent misunderstanding that occurs between the candidate and the recruiter. Companies have a strict policy when working to fill positions - they will accept a candidate's resume from only one source. This is an important point! Since acceptance of a resume from a recruiter signifies a contract for future payment if the candidate is hired, companies are very careful about managing resumes. Specifically
The implications of this policy are important to the candidate. When an HR group receives a candidate's resume from a recruiter, they will frequently ask the recruiter to explain the candidate's strengths and weakness and to explain why the candidate is appropriate for the position. If there is initial interest in the candidate, the recruiter then will be asked to check references before an interview is scheduled. If the recruiting firm is not able to articulate the candidate's strengths, skills, research, etc., the hiring process can be delayed or, in the worst case, the candidate can lose the opportunity to interview with the company.
The take home lessons - If you are going to use a recruiting firm to assist you with a job search, work with only one agency and make sure that they can accurately represent your credentials to potential employers. If you have already sent your resume to companies, do not expect the recruiter to "check up on it and put in a good word for you" - they cannot assist you once the company has received your resume. And finally, be sure to let the recruiter know where your resume has been sent so that you can avoid problems with your application. By letting a recruiter submit your resume to a company that you have already contacted directly, you are wasting the time of both HR, and the recruiter. Each time a recruiter submits a resume, HR must take the time to check their log to see if that resume is already on file.
Since you will need to limit the number of recruiters that you work with, what should you expect from them in return? As an executive placement firm that specializes in computational chemistry and informatics, Molecular Solutions believes that candidates should be provided with the following information when they are contacted:
A recruiter who understands both the industry and your qualifications can be an effective asset in helping you to manage your career. In addition to acting as the interface with the company during your job search, they can keep you apprised of future openings that may be of interest. As you become more senior in your career, they also can assist you in efficiently locating qualified employees as you move into management. If you find a recruiter you enjoy working with, stay in touch with them. If you would like to discuss your job search, please contact Molecular Solutions.
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